When in Rome!

No big deal, I went to Rome for a weekend. That’s normal right? I mean seriously though, who does that? Oh wait, I do! Okay, so Rome is everything it is cracked up to be and more. I would almost go as far as to say that Rome is underrated because I can’t possibly put this city into words, but for your sake I will try.

Friday everyone was gearing up to leave for their weekend adventure. Some went to Florence and others went to Interlaken to go skiing/canyon jumping! I was traveling with a smaller group this time of only 6 which was really nice. Friday we took the bus to Castle Franco and then caught a train to Padova where we ran into one of the Florence groups.  They took a bus to Bassano and then a train to Padova. Turns out our train to Rome was making a stop in Florence to we all got to sit together for about an hour and a half. The train ride was super nice and fast, but we still didn’t get into Rome until around 11. Once we got an idea of where we were in relation to our hostel we realized it was about an 8 minute walk so off we went into the streets of Rome! By the time we got settled into our 6 bed private room it was almost 12. Oh, and the entire 4^th floor was CIMBA students. Totally unplanned but that’s CIMBA for ya! Some of the boys went out and found clubs but Alexa and I decided to go ahead and get some sleep so we could wake up early for our first day in Rome.

Rome Day 1: It was monsooning all day. I forgot to bring an umbrella but luckily there are hundreds of really annoying people standing on the side of every street trying to sell you an umbrella so I talked him down from 5 euro to 2 euro for an umbrella. Then we went to get breakfast across the street and I devoured some Nutella pancakes! So nutritious, I know. We decided that our first stop would be the Coliseum but along the way we stopped in some MAGNIFICENT churches. Absolutely breathtaking! So despite the rain the walk to the Coliseum was really cool. Roman streets are just picturesque! We were just walking down this one street and I was in the back of the group so everyone took a right turn before I did and all I heard was “Oh my gosh!” so I put a little pep in my step, took a sharp right and there it was! Walking up to the Coliseum is indescribable. Just imagine standing at the base of it looking up at this iconic piece of history, in the rain. Naturally we paid to go in and walk around. It’s exactly what you see in the pictures but to stand on the inside and look down and out from what used to be the stands is really just something else! After we had taken our fair share of pictures we headed across the street, pass the Arco di Costantino to the Roman Forum. Even though our Coliseum ticket would have gotten us into the forum I am embarrassed to admit that we were too wet and cold by this point to go in. Instead we walked around it and to this viewing point where you could look down and over the forum. Oh, and we ran into Jay and Jack from CIMBA who were in Rome seeing a friend. Shocker that in the eternal city our group of 6 manages to bump into that pair. Once we decided that we had observed the forum for a sufficient enough amount of time we strolled across the street for lunch and a chance to take our shoes off to dump the standing water out of them. At this point we were soaked all the way through. We had a delicious pasta lunch accompanied by hot chocolate. By that time it was almost three, we were still soaked and it was still storming so we decided take the tram back to the hostel for nap time.  When we got up it was about 6 and it had stopped raining for the night so we decided that we would wait for the rest of CIMBA to come back to the hostel and we would all go out to dinner as a group then head over to Trevi Fountain because we heard it’s prettier at night (truth)! Well that almost worked. We had everyone together and headed out around 8:30 to a restaurant someone had heard of only to be turned away because we were a group of 12 American college students. So we regrouped and decided to split up and try to meet at Trevi around 11:30. Our group headed off in the direction of the fountain to look for a restaurant around there. Wondering the streets of Rome at night is beautiful! We “stumbled” across so many iconic land marks and ruins with every turn we made. Eventually we decided to stop in a shop that sold little Rome memorabilia and ask the owners for dinner recommendations. They were exceptional people! They drew us a map to a nearby restaurant they love that was so incredible and inexpensive (my dinner was cheaper than my lunch!). They also called ahead to the restaurant to let them know that a group of 8 American students were on their way to a table would be ready when we got there. However, when we got there the table was not quite yet ready, we had to wait about 6 minutes, but in the mean time they brought us complimentary glasses of hot wine cider drink which tastes like Christmas in a cup aka really good. We sat outside under the heat lamps so we were comfortably warm. No matter the weather or the time of year almost every restaurant that is on a street in Europe has outdoor seating. Our table split an antipasti and I had a spicy olive oil based spaghetti for dinner. Two of the boys got a tiramisu and it was probably the best tiramisu I have ever tried but instead of ordering one for myself I got a Kinder Bar flavored gelato on our way to the Trevi Fountain. The best part about dinner was that half way through our dinner the store owners showed up with some friends to have dinner there as well and we greeted warmly by the wait staff. That says a lot when someone who recommends you to a restaurant also comes there to eat.

On to the best part of the night… So we had planned to meet up with the second half of the group at 11:30pm at the fountain but that didn’t work because it was almost midnight before we were done with dinner. On our way to the fountain we were winding through small streets and all of the sudden BOOM, there’s the Pantheon! Everyone was looking at it like “Hmm, that looks famous” and thanks to 4 years of Latin with Cober I was able to identify it as the Pantheon. We admired it and decided to come back the next day when it was open so we kept on walking to the fountain.

 Let’s just take a moment to soak this all in: I am spending an evening in Rome after a 5 star dining experience walking the streets eating gelato and accidentally finding the Pantheon on my way to the Trevi Fountain. Let that sink in….Okay, moving on.

Of course, as we got closer to the fountain we could hear it before we could see it. All of the sudden, after winding through more small streets we round the corner and BAM, Trevi Fountain! It’s everything it is in the pictures and more and I am so happy we saw it at night first. The first thought that popped into my head: Lizze McGuire Movie. The second: what the heck am I going to wish for? After about 30 minutes of picture taking and admiring with the lively crowds I turned my back to the fountain, tossed in a coin and made a wish! Then we took the tram home for the night: End of day one.

The Crowds for the Blessing!

Rome Day 2: Once again, Nutella pancakes and a cappuccino for breakfast. I am so spoiled! Today we decided that we were pretty much going to do Rome all over again because the sun we finally out, but first we were going to the Vatican. One of the guys had heard that the Pope was making an appearance at 12 so we defiantly wanted to be there for that. Plus, on the last Sunday of each month it is free to tour the Vatican museum which is only open from 9-12 so we did that first. I was shocked by  the collection of artwork and architecture in the museum. I’m not entirely sure as to what is all was or the significance of it but I took a picture of everything that intrigued me. The museum tour finished at the Sistine Chapel which is absolutely remarkable. To look up and see the iconic ceiling that I have heard about for years is unreal. You do not have to be an art fanatic to appreciate the time and detail that went into the Chapel’s ceiling. The colors are still so vibrant and it is so well preserved it looks as though it was painted just yesterday! After the museum we headed over to St. Peter's Square for the Pope’s final blessing. There were so many people that by the time we got in we caught the tail end of the blessing and could hardly even see him on the jumbo screens, but we were still there! After much pushing, shoving and waiting we finally made it into St. Petersburg.  Absolutely Magnificent! I caught the tail end of Sunday Mass and even though I could not understand a word it was still a great experience. Walking around the inside of that church is something I will hold onto forever.

The Spanish Steps

We went to lunch around 2 and I had the best spaghetti all a carbonara, the pasta noodles were so fresh! We then headed back toward the Pantheon which again, was such a cool sight to see. Then we headed back over to the Trevi Fountain so see it during the day and to get some more gelato. We also went to the Spanish Steps which were really pretty! The view from the top was amazing, and so was the Ashton Martin that was parked on the side of the street. Our train didn’t leave until 10:30 that night to so we decided to walk into a few more churches before finding a place to eat. We took a 2 hour dinner at a small restaurant and went through 3 bottles for regional red wine. Again, the service was awesome and so was the food. Before they gave us the check we got complimentary limoncello shots. Rome is awesome. We kind of lost track of time and we were still half way across the city at 9pm and we needed to go back to the hostel first to pick up our luggage. Picture this 8 Americans sprinting through the streets of Rome past the Coliseum, the Forum and other iconic places in order to make the train. People were literally cheering us on, it was like a scene out of a movie but luckily we made it. The train ride was terrible though, I didn’t sleep a bit and we didn’t get into Padova until around 4:30am. Our next train left at 5:55am and arrived in Castle Franco at 6:25am. Again we had to run almost a mile through the streets of Castle Franco with our travel packs in order to catch the 6:55 bus to PDG. Keep in mind that I was still in my dress from the Vatican when we showed up to campus! We got to campus at 7:40am, breakfast by 8 and class at 8:25. 

Veni Vidi Vici!

Week 7

This week could not be any more tiring! It’s the first week back from our first travel break AND we all have a lot of tests and assignments due this week plus LEAP coaching to attend. Monday was really fun though because everyone was trading stories from their travels. It is so crazy to think that 126 of us split up for 10 days and covered almost all of Europe! Everyone’s stories were great and I especially liked hearing what other groups did in some of the same cities that I went to. Monday night we also had “Date with a Professor.” Basically our professors plan a “date” for a group of 30 students and we sign up for which professor’s date we want to go on. I went to pizza making with my marketing professor Joe George. He is the man! Joe George is hands down the best professor I have ever had, both here and at State. All of our professors are SUPER successful guys who have retired (with the exception of a few) and are now teaching in Italy for a semester because they can. The projects George has worked on in the past and the stories he tells us are hilarious. He is quite a character and he’s originally from Texas so he has quite the accent.

So 30 of us take a bus to Asolo to the pizzeria and when we walk in the door we all have a glass of vino waiting for us. Here’s the best part, the restaurant owner/chef does not speak English and none of us speak enough Italian to communicate with him (we forgot to get a translator). So we spend about an hour playing a game of charades with this guy trying to figure out what he is telling us in terms of ingredients, cook time and temperature etc. According to him from start to finish it should only take about 4 minutes to make a pizza so I don’t know what Gumby’s excuse is for my 30 minute wait…. The pizzas are cooked in a wood fire oven too which he manages to maintain at 800+ °F!! We each had the chance to make our own pizza but we didn’t learn how to toss the dough in the air (probably for the best). I put everything on mine and it was SO good. However, pepperoni and dried red pepper flakes in Italy are a good bit hotter than in the States. I could not finish my pizza because it was so hot and spicy. Luckily I wasn’t the only one who made a fool out of themselves because after dinner there was a line of us across the street getting some gelato to cool our taste buds. George recommended that we all go back to the pizzeria another night because there is a pizza called the Picasso that a previous CIMBA MBA student created that is basically a pizza with everything on it, folded in half, with more topping then added on top and then baked. YUM! 

After pizza making Monday night the rest of the week has been pretty much downhill. It snowed again so that wasn’t really fun anymore. Snow was cool the first week, not anymore.

The Padirty Goes to Berlin and Amsterdam

Part 2:

Wednesday we got up at 7am tried for the 9am tour of Berlin but we missed it so we went to the Holocaust memorial. I honestly have no words to describe what that experience was like. After that we got some lunch and I had a potato soup with sausage, so yummy! Finally, 3 of us ended up taking the 1pm Berlin tour. We saw the Brandenburg Gate, all of the Embassies around Paris Square, the hotel where Michael Jackson held the baby over the railing, the Berlin Wall, Royal Street, museum island, Checkpoint Charlie, TV tower, the burned books memorial, communist apartment buildings and we stood on top of Hitler’s main bunker. At Check Point Charlie you could get an authentic  East Berlin stamp in your passport for 10 Euros but our tour guide advised us not to because the US might not like it when we try to return home with a communist stamp in our passport! After a little nap and dinner at Berlin’s oldest pub we went back to our Hostel and watched The Real Madrid vs MU soccer game. Our bar area was packed; apparently it’s the place to be, even for the locals! By the time the game was over it was 12am. At 3am I was up again and headed to the airport for Amsterdam!  Brad, out Valentine’s Day birthday boy decided to stay out at the club until 4am while the rest of us were at the airport with his passport. No worries, he made it on time.

Happy Valentine’s Day! And thank you to Michael for the chocolates at the airport! We had a quick flight into Amsterdam and went straight to our hostel for a nap. Some of the people in our group decided to go to the Heineken experience that night but Kendall and I opted for a longer nap.  Around 7pm when we finally woke up we realized that all 10 out of the 12 people in our group had left the hostel to go out in Amsterdam. After much deliberation he and I decided to wander around Amsterdam in the snow and find something fun to do. We came across a really fun square filled with bars, restaurants and college kids. Luckily, Ajax had a home game that night so we decided to go to a bar, grab a Heineken and hang out with the people of Amsterdam as they cheered on their team. American football fans have nothing on European soccer fans, I don’t care who you are or what you say. Kendall is big in to soccer so he explained all of the rules to me as we went bar hopping around Amsterdam, basically we made our own bar crawl; in total I think we went to about 6 bars in the square. As the night progressed you could tell we were in a hot spot because people from the game started filling the bars to celebrate the win!

*Fun fact for the day: By this time I had already worn the majority of my clothes twice. Yay for living out of a backpack!

Friday we kind of split up a little and some of the boys decided to rent bikes while the rest of us opted for walking. Amsterdam is really big into biking and you almost have a better chance of getting a tram or car to stop for you than you do a biker. The weather was considerably warmer (enough to melt the snow) and the wind wasn't blowing so we had a pleasant day. The rest of us decided to start our day at the Van Gogh exhibit. It was really neat to see some of history’s most famous paintings hanging two feet in front of me. After lunch we then decided to go to Anne Frank’s house which was really something else. You were able to walk through the annex and at the end of the house her diary was on display in a glass case. At 5 I met up with Mary Clare, Stephanie and Kevin at the Heineken Brewery and the four of us did the Heineken experience. Best part of my day right there! It was a tour through the original brewery that gave you some history of the beer and the brand which finished at a bar. Because I wasn’t checking my bag I decided not to get a bottle with my name on the label, but I did get a fancy little bottle opener in the shape of the “smiling e.” That night, after much deliberation, we all decided to go back to the square where I was the night before and go on the “Byerly Bar Crawl” as opposed to going over to the famed red light district. As usual the square was very alive and we had a great time!

Saturday (Almost done!) Stephanie, Mary Clare, Ben and I wandered over toward the Royal Palace for a tour. It is a beautiful building that is still actively used today which is kind of cool. Diagonal to the palace is a shopping center called the “World of Brands” Emily R: you would just DIE in this place, it is every major designer all under one roof! The 4 of us lazily walked around Amsterdam for the rest of the afternoon and admired all of the canals, architecture and general hustle and bustle of the city. We settled down for some tea and a warm cookie before retiring for a nap. For our last night in Amsterdam we went everywhere. At one bar there was an open mic and 4 of our boys wanted to go out and play so a bunch of CIMBA students went out to watch them, then we found another bar that was having karaoke night and we all decided to get in on that too. Kevin and I did a lovely duet to Don’t Stop Believing. I was pretty bad.  At 1:30 10 of us headed across the street to the Ice Bar which was -10 Celsius.  You were only allowed to be in there for 45 minutes at a time and we didn't even make it 30 minutes. Some boys hardly made it 10 minutes it was so cold, even with the thermal ponchos and gloves. Never again. 

Sunday (Day 10) was our last day in Amsterdam. Amsterdam was easily my favorite city, to me it was a mix of Venice and Prague and I simply loved it. I also knew my way around pretty well so that is another contributing factor. Despite its reputation for the “Ladies in the Window” and the legalization of weed I can proudly say I did not partake in either activity in any way shape or form. Never have, never will (sigh of relief for Mom and Dad). Thank goodness we were leaving though, I was missing Paderno. We literally spent all day walking around looking for places to sit. We were so tired from traveling and our feet hurt so bad that all we wanted to do was go from café to café just to sit down and enjoy the day. Our flight home didn't leave until 7 so we had a very long and lazy day in Amsterdam. Finally at 4 we headed off to the airport where we met up with more CIMBA students taking the same flight into Venice. On our way to the airport we passed by the old Amsterdam Olympic Park which was really cool to see, I wish I had more time there to see it all. I will most defiantly be going back in the summer! When we landed in Treviso it was 9pm and at 10pm the CIMBA bus arrived, by 11pm we were in PDG and by 12am I was sound asleep.

Over all Travel Week 1 was a success! No one got taken, lost anything, had anything stolen, got seriously hurt, missed a flight, etc. As exhausted as I am, I am already looking forward to my trip to Rome this weekend! Hopefully I can see what’s going on in the Vatican with the Pope…

The Padirty Goes Abroad

Just a few housekeeping notes before I get started: My laptop is not functioning to the best of its ability so I ask that y’all please wait patiently for pictures. I promise I will get them up soon and they will be worth the wait! Also, travel week 1 was so fun and crazy that I simply must break it up into two parts so bear with me!

Part 1:

Friday the 15^th was the first day of travel break and it was all we could do to sit through class, leaving for travel week is the equivalent to leaving for spring break (but this was so much colder). At 5:30pm we all took a bus to Bassano and from there took a train to Venice. Our hotel in Venice was close enough to the station so we were able to walk which was nice. We grabbed a quick dinner and then took a bus into Venice. Unfortunately it was about 12:30am before we got there so we missed the BIG Carnival party but the city was still very much awake. I got a mask right when we got into the city and kept it on for the rest of the night! We walked all over the city and saw a lot of CIMBA students who were also spending their first night in Venice. We eventually made our way back to the hotel around 2am. Then came Saturday…

Saturday morning we walked back to the train station to catch a bus to the Venice-Treviso airport for our WizzAir flight to Prague! There had to be about 50 CIMBA students on that flight (keep in mind, there are only 126 of us in the program) and we got to pick our seats so that was actually a fin flight. During the flight we passed over the Alps and they were BEAUTIFUL. At one point we couldn't tell if the plane was really that low or the Alps were just that tall. When we got into Prague all 50 some of us needed to exchange our currency which was a pain but Prague is relatively cheap so that was nice. We took a cab to our hostel which was so gross. Seven of us shared this nasty little room and the bathroom was repulsive. Some of the other CIMBA students were staying in a hostel that was a 2 minute walk down the road from us and it was so much nicer. The girls headed out for a late dinner and then we met up with everyone else in Old Town Square for a pub crawl. We went to 5 pubs; the last one was the largest night club in central Europe, 5 floors of awesomeness. I did have a shot of Absinthe while on the pub crawl (sorry Mom and Dad!).  Over all the pub crawl was a good start to our time in Prague, AND we got a t-shirt.

Sunday we had a really good brunch at a café that was alongside the river. After that it was almost 1pm so we decided to head back to Old Town Square to take a free walking tour of Prague. Our tour guide was a really cool guy named Simon who was originally from London, came to Prague on Holiday and just never left. We saw all of the major spots all over Prague and learned a lot about their history which was fascinating. On the tour we saw Old Town Square, the Astronomical Clock, Charles’ Bridge, the Old Jewish Quarter, Old New Synagogue and the Golem, Prague Castle (at a distance), and a much more. Prague is absolutely beautiful and I would love to come back and see it in the spring and when I can walk around comfortably without being so cold.

Unfortunately my day stopped when the tour stopped because I got the “Emily Sickness.” For those of you who don’t know what that is it’s a stomach sickness I've been getting since high school and lasts about 17 hours. But as usual, I was as good as new on Monday!

So, Monday Mary Clare, Stephanie and I broke off from the rest of the group when we went in search of a bagel place that Simon recommended to us. We made it as far as Starbucks before we decided to give up when we saw some of the CIMBA boys. We then decided to go check out New Town Square and have some lunch. After that we decided to head back to Old Town and climb to the top of the Astronomical clock (I lied, we didn't climb, we took the elevator).  At 2 we found yet another group of CIMBA boys and all decided to take the free Prague Castle tour at 2. At this point, our group of 3 had turned into a group of 15. The Castle sits on the other side of the river and overlooks Prague so you get an amazing panoramic view at the top. The history and the hidden secrets of the Castle was really fun to learn about despite the BITTER COLD WEATHER. Oh yeah, while we were on the tour we ran into yet another group of about 10 CIMBA students. We’re everywhere. After the tour we finished up our last day and night in Prague with dinner at the Mosaic Room (the other hostel down the street) and then went to a local beer pong bar called “Balls Deep.” There were about 20 CIMBA students hanging out in that bar….

On Tuesday (Happy Birthday to my darling Little, who’s birthday I regretfully missed) we had to get up early to trek through the snow to the Prague train station. Half way there we saw another Starbucks and caved to buy a hot coffee before we continued walking. I think I have seen more Starbucks, Burger King and McDonalds per city here in Europe than I have anywhere in the States. Once again, at the train station there were almost 30 CIMBA students boarding the train to Berlin. It was a 5 hour train ride through the snowy German country side and we sat in groups of 6 in our own private car. Most of the time was spent playing poker and sleeping. When we arrived in Berlin we took a bus to our Hostel which was a palace compared to the last one. It was under the same ownership as the Mosaic Room in Prague so it had a nice bar and restaurant downstairs. For dinner a group of us headed to a nearby restaurant that brewed their own beer which was really good, but not as good as the sausage and apple strudel. The rest of the evening was spent at a German pub, which coincidentally  was filled with the same crowd that was on the train. I promise we didn't plan this all together. Apparently these cities are just not big enough for CIMBA students...

The Arctic Cold

I have had a cold that only Antarctica could produce. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I am not used to these Alpine temperatures? I have tried to let it run its course but I finally gave in and went to the nurse which was an experience all in its own. Let me just say that the Italian medical system is not like ours. She did not ask for my medical history or even my first name, she rummaged through a cabinet and produced two spray bottles and 4 dissolving tablets and off I went with my meds, it's a good think I am not allergic to anything or taking any other medicines. She also said I am not allowed to go to the gym which is fine by me because I got tired just going up the stairs to her office. Needless to say I haven't been doing much lately, plus this week is exam week 1 for everybody. We all have multiple tests, projects and papers due this week plus travel arrangements for our first travel week!

However, I have managed to take two mini adventures in the past week. On Saturday afternoon I had a pretty bad soar throat so it seemed pretty logical that Anthony, Julia and I take brisk walk in the cold and rain to Crespano to go get some gelato (so smart, I know). It is a darling little cafe, bar, gelato and pastry shop. It's the jack of all trades really and we definitely plan on going back because it's only about 20 minutes east of campus. Despite the weather and my impending soar throat we still had a nice walk and made it back in time for dinner.

I told you they have everything at the market!

Sunday morning I still felt pretty bad BUT Anthony, Julia, Jake, Conner and I went on yet another adventure to Castelcucco which is about 20 minutes west of campus. On Sunday mornings they have a huge and wonderful (black) market with everything you could possibly imagine! We decided to go this Sunday because we figure that this Sunday could very well be the last one we spend in Paderno based on our travel plans. I think everyone else had the same idea because we saw a lot of other students and some of our professors. Anyway, they boys were so cute and racked up on some sweaters, vests and food. Julia got a super cute dress and scarf and I just got a macchiatone at the bar, where people were enjoying spritzers and prosecco at 10 am on a Sunday! WHAT?! Speaking of prosecco, we also found a wine shop which sold local wine so that was kind of fun.




Oh yeah, on top of ALL of the school work we also started LEAP this week which is a follow up to LIFE. Fingers crossed that it goes better than LIFE!

Formal Dinner: Take 1

Well, as we say here in CIMBA land, I have drank the koolaid and ate the cheese. Even I don't have to have a trained pallet to know that the vino and food I just had were exquisite (and expensive)! Getting ready for the Formal Dinner on Thursday was like getting ready from Prom, hence why we now call it the CIMBA Prom. Us girls were spending hours upon hours prepping while the boys waited until the last possible moment to shower. It's funny how we see the same people day after day and don't care one bit about how we look but all of the sudden it was time to dress to impress. Shout out to my neighbor Julia for creating a fancy little up-do for me!

The Cocktail Hour

The A Team!

At 7:30 pm everyone piled onto 3 buses in their best semi-formal attire. The girls were stunning and the boys were looking sharp! The bus ride was short but fun and even the professors rode on the same bus as the students. (Side note: all of the faculty attends the formal dinners.) Twenty minutes later we arrived at Hotel Fior in Castelfranco. Look it up. The hotel is amazing and the service was incredible. We had a cocktail hour during which time we had a fabulous mixed Prosecco drink and DELICIOUS appetizers which included a fried cheese that Dr. Al had warned us all about. I cannot even begin to name or describe the food I just had!

THE DESERT

After a while we moved into a formal dinning room for our four course meal which, once again, I cannot even begin to describe. The wine was picked and paid for by Dr. Al so it matched the menu perfectly. Between courses, despite the rules of etiquette, we all got up and moved about the room taking pictures and socializing. It was really fun because we got to interact with our professors in a setting that I don't think I would ever be in back in the States. However, I was not yet bold enough to take pictures with them, maybe at the next one... Now, let me tell you about this desert. First of all, we had a wine to match it. So good. Second of all, it was a melt in your mouth cream pastry brick of deliciousness. And third, the espresso that followed was awesome. They practically had to roll us all out of there and back on the buses at 12 am when the dinner was over.

The menu...

To top off the night we had a jam session on the bus ride home (we love to sing on the buses) which resulted to a loss of my voice all day today (Friday)! I blame the espresso for the energy kick. I hate to wish my days away but I am already looking forward to the second formal dinner in just a few weeks!!!